Marise - Circle: Ayame Vrs Sergio

Description: The House Fighter go-to girl Ayame once again takes the stage! This time, her popular rise to fame is put in jeopardy by none-other than the returning Italian warrior, Sergio! Unfortunately for the Euro, someone had the bright idea of setting up electrified wires and poles throughout the arena! For a man with water powers.. not a trivial issue indeed. Coupled with the fact that Ayame starts at the top of her game and brings the pain without mercy? Sergio has his work cut out for him here.. Can he do it? Even the ever-impartial Marise was taken by surprise at this outcome folks!



"Ladies and Gentlemen!"

The introduction begins like a credo. Marise's words becoming institutionalized over this unhallowed circle. The crowd within the hidden stands, having grown only larger and larger in the past few weeks, riles up as one. Their cheering voices echoing faintly through the reinforced concrete as the loudspeakers carry that melodious tone, "It is time for our maaaaaaaain event!" The beautiful Marise's face flickers into view upon the monitors high above. Her dazzling grin bright and eager for what is to come, "And we have a special presentation JUST for you all.. YOU voted for them and we are here to provide!"

The first spotlight reveals contestant numero uno. A very familiar Italia Brava, "Ladies, we can't get enough of gentlemen of the European persuasion can we? Mister wet and wild himself, Sergio!" More than a few effeminate cries of delight can be heard behind the otherwise impenetrible glass.

"And now.. A moment all of you boys in the yard have been waiting for.." Already more than a few cat calls, cheers and wolf whistles can be heard and only growing in volume, "Just barely legal.. the sassiest little number with the shortest skirt! She's lovely.. she's lethal! Sheeeee's Ayame!" The spotlight then flashes upon the Circle's most regular go-to-girl, set opposite from her opponent in the wide pit.

"I know what yoooou're thinking. Yes.. Yes indeed!" The lights of the arena flash brighter, expanding the view further from the two and revealing what appears to be an expansive network of copper wiring. Strung together across several tall metal poles set regularly about like a conductive forest, "You're thinking.. 'How can we make this more interesting?' WELL. Let me tell you, my lovelies.. How about if we force them to fight each other in the middle of a forest of one thousand volts?"
The sound of a capacitor begins to grind into ignition as a sub-sonic, droning hum begins to fill the arena. Crackles of light dance along the wires between the metal poles.
"Kyaha! Yesssss.. I thought you'd approve.. Kyahaahaaa! FIGHTERS! BEGIN!"

COMBATSYS: Ayame has started a fight here.

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Ayame            0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Sergio has joined the fight here.

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Sergio           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Ayame


Rapidly becoming her home away from home, it's time for another night in the pit for Ayame. There's definitely worse jobs to have. Definitely better ones too though. Here she has fans, which is more than she can say about her life on the streets before being picked up by Elle. Funny that the exact same behavior that vexed everyone she ever met in public to no end has made her the arena's popular little celebrity.

So what unlucky sap got tossed in here with her tonight she wonders, waiting for the lights to come on. The spotlight answers the question in an insant though, lighting up Sergio for Ayame and the world to see. Still shrouded in darkness, no one will see the quiet double-take as the teenaged fighter's eyes come to rest on her opponent. What? Him? No, it can't- Marise announces him as Sergio and Ayame's mouth opens a little bit before clamping shut again. Hn. Maybe she'll get lucky and find he brought his wallet with him! Wait, he was the guy with the watery attacks...

The light comes to rest on her and Ayame's expression shifts, concealing her surprise. Already smirking back at Sergio the moment she becomes visible, the girl is standing with a six foot long titanium staff in her right hand. Wrapped over her shoulders is an almost invisibly thin cable with a pointed weight clipped on one end and a heavier, blunt weight clipped on the other. Nothing of the rest of her weaponry is visible, but of course the crowd knows better than that. Sheathes sewn into her belt contain a pair of knives, and a larger sheath on her back houses some strange set of blades linked by a ring. And that's just what's /visible/.

Chewing gum, the girl lazily stretches her arms out at her side, holding up the titanium staff to glint in the spotlight. On the surface she appears as calm as can be. And then Marise introduces the other component to the fight. The charged wires overhead and Ayame glances up a little. Cute. She hasn't seen /this/ setup before. She'll have to be careful where she swings her metal weapons that's for sure.

"Not your lucky night," the strawberry-blonde speaks toward Sergio, tossing her hair back over her shoulder with a sharp lean of her head. "Last time I was just trying to get away from you." She lifts her empty left hand, tightening it into a fist. "But there's no running away, here. You'll probably wish there was!" Shifting her staff to her left hand, she begins to uncoil some of the cabling resting around her shoulders, smacking her gum obnoxiously.

The call to begin is given by the woman who runs this twisted circus and Ayame wastes no time getting straight to the point. Charging forward to close the distance a little, she swings the rope dart at her side, the bright red cloth just two feet away from the pointed weight doing a very good job of distracting the eye from seeing the true danger.

Now it remains to see if Sergio sees it in time as Ayame hops into the air with a spin, swinging her leg out to kick the weight out toward Sergio's chest. As she lands, she's already whipping the dart back over her head once with her right hand and swinging it out a second time at the level of /his/ head.

COMBATSYS: Sergio fails to interrupt Medium Fling from Ayame with Fierce Punch.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Sergio           0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0            Ayame


COMBATSYS: Marise has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

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Marise           0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0           Sergio
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ayame            0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Marise successfully hits Sergio with Thrown Object.

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Marise           0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0           Sergio
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ayame            0/-------/-------|


For the second time Sergio steps into the ring underneath the casino in Metro City. True, he makes his home in Southtown now, but he can't help bug get a kick from an underground fighting circle like this one. There're things to be said for both legitimate and illegitimate rings, so why not live the best of both worlds and take part in them both?

Once again he raises his hands and waves to the cheering crowd as the spotlight turns on him, enjoying the attention. He doesn't intend to let it get to his head, but it's always nice to be appreciated, even if it's just because you're making them money. Last time he was here he pulled ahead a crazy amount only to get pounded down to nothing in no time at all by Aislinn's incredible power. He doesn't intend to let that happen, this time.

But as his opponent is introduced his face suddenly breaks into a wide grin, and he holds back a laugh as the spotlight turns on Ayame and reveals her. He seems rather happy to see who his opponent is, which might come off as a little odd, but there it is. The smirk on her face doesn't seem to do anything to phase his good cheer- nor does her declaration. "Haha, it's good to see you again? How's that shrine going, plenty of swept leaves and donations, I hope?" An even bigger grin.

But alas Ayame is all about getting down to business, whipping around her knife on a string. "Run away? Why would I go and do a thing like that? If you're hopin' I'll up and quit before I'm down, out, and then some, you'd better change your plans." The final element of the fight is the lines of high voltage electricity, and in true brawler fashion he'll just ignore those. His water will protect him from something as silly as that!

Suddenly it's time to get things going as Ayame kicks the weight for him, at which point Sergio just charges flat out and tries to rush her down. The dagger? Bah! Let it stab him, what's the worst it could do? He starts getting close, forms water around his hand... and craziness happens! First of all, a knife is suddenly sticking out of his chest, producing a fairly bewildered look on his face, and secondly there's a flash as electricity arcs from the water around his fist and jolts him, both measures effectively killing any momentum he had going and causing him to slow down to a stop- right in front of Ayame. A half frown, "Well shit."

The rope dart hits its mark at the same time Sergio gets jolted by the voltage overhead. "I got tired of it so I burned it down," comes the flippant reply as she pulls back on the cable, yanking the sharp weight back out of Sergio's chest, not slowing down in the slightest as she spins once, wrapping the cable back over her shoulder and gripping the titanium staff with both of her hands.

True or false, who knows. But she seems pretty confident. He's in her playground now, as far as she's concerned, and she's nothing but confident right now. Landing out of her spin through the air, her feet touch down for just an instant as she positions herself with the pole held at an angle in front of her. "Wet and wild, hn?" Ayame rolls her eyes, repeating back Marise's introduction for Sergio. "More like washed up. You don't have a chance!"

As if to prove the point, the girl swings out with the staff, the low end smashing upward to strike Sergio in the side at about waist level before the girl uses the rebound off it to spin around and sweep the weapon lower, trying to take him off his feet entirely, potentially opening him up to more abuse if he isn't quick.

COMBATSYS: Sergio blocks Ayame's Medium Strike.

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Marise           0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0           Sergio
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ayame            0/-------/-------|


A laugh comes from Sergio at the comment of burning down the shrine, followed by a, "Grk!" as the knife is swiftly withdrawn from his chest. Well damn, he could have used that against her, couldn't he? Oh well, he'll have to remember that in case it happens again. Looks like she's changing weapons though. It's not too big of a deal for him, just another thing he'll have to deal with. The knives are probably the bigger annoyance to him, anyway.

"Washed up? Nah! I'm just getting started, actually." The pole comes out and she swings it at him. The man, however, doesn't budge, simply lifting a foot and intercepting the weapon while it's still low, a nice metallic ringing emitting throughout the ring. "What's wrong, haven't you ever brawled before? If not, it's definitely time!" He drops his foot to the ground, and then plants it, immediately rising up into the air to try and kick at Ayame's chest to knock her back, continuing on if he hits to send three punches across her body followed by a palmstrike turned waterspray, "Hah!"

COMBATSYS: Marise successfully hits Sergio with Thrown Object.

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Marise           0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0           Sergio
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ayame            0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Ayame counters Breaker from Sergio with Bright Renewal.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Marise           0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0           Sergio
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ayame            0/-------/------=|


He's tough. As he weathers her strikes with ease, Ayame remembers how durable he was when they got aquainted during a friendly late night mugging attempt. No room for doubt though. She's faster, better, and darnit, the crowds love her! As he takes to the air, the girl only has to move the staff up to her side, holding it horizontally before she jams it outward, stabbing a butt of it against Sergio's chest to control his attack before it can strike her.

The watery chi flies through the air but without the momentum he had behind it, it isn't going to do her any harm before the traces of energy vanish and it evaporates like any other elemental attack will once it's no longer being channeled.

The weapon jab does the job of stopping him, but Ayame isn't finished as she whirls around, gripping the long weapon almost like a bat as she swings the long end of it crashing into Sergio's side to finish taking him out of the air.

Completing the spin, she comes to rest in a crouch, the polearm held out at her side, brown eyes regarding the Italian. "You seem to enjoy this way too much," she mutters. "Means I must just have to hurt you more. Unless, you know, you're into that sort've thing..." she finishes with a roll of her eyes and a quick sigh as she rises back to a standing, defensive position, looking all together dangerous to target behind that oversized beat-stick.

Oh yea, Ayame can stop his attacks with her pole. He sorta forgot about that. That's the kind of mistake that can really turn a fight around on you if you aren't careful. And the silliest part of the whole thing is that he gets zapped too, right between her first blow and the one to the side that does the majority of the damage. At this point he thinks he could weather Ayame alone, but with all the electricity flying around that might not be the case, especially since she seems deft enough to avoid swatting the wires.

"Hmph." He rubs his side after the smack causes a double sidestep, "I'll admit that you've got some skill, and so far I'm doin' pretty bad, but in case you haven't noticed you aren't doin' a whole hell of a lot. You hit me and it stings, I hit you and you're gonna feel all over- and it's just a matter of time until that happens." He then opens his stance and holds his arms wide, "But why the angry attitude, I get the feeling your not happy to see me. And here I thought you might have a little fun swingin' your pole at me."

Ah well, he can't win everything, but at this point he has to start winning something or he's going to tank, and tank hard. For a moment Sergio considers tightening up ant trying to 'play it smart', but a moment later he lets out a, "Nah!" With Ayame holding her defensive position he walks up to her and crouches low, dropping his fist almost to the floor. Suddenly he's launching himself skyward, fist rising up in a powerful and blatantly stolen uppercut, water streaming out behind his fist as he tries to crush it right into her chin. "Water Dragon Punch!" Been a while since he used that one, too long!

COMBATSYS: Sergio dodges Marise's Thrown Object.

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Marise           0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0           Sergio
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ayame            0/-------/------=|


COMBATSYS: Ayame interrupts Strong Kick from Sergio with Harvest's Reaper.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Marise           0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1           Sergio
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ayame            0/-------/--=====|


He does have a good point. For all the bashing and stabbing she's been doing, he seems to be holding up really well, much to her chagrin. It's a good thing she isn't trying to just punch him down. That would probably be laughable. Far from weak, but there's no denying that a lot of her offensive power comes from the careful use of her array of weapons to deal the real damage!

And she does remember him packing quite the punch when her mugging went south real fast last time. But she's gotten a lot more experience under her belt(s) since then too, so maybe that'll make the difference? "Well, you're right on one point. It IS rather cathertic. I think I owe you a few lumps!" Wait, didn't she start BOTH of their previous spats?

And in the next instant, both fighters get their way. Sergio charges in at the girl with wreckless abandon, looking to dish out that full-body hurting he's promised her. At the same time, Ayame's pole flares to life with a dangerous amount of energy being channeled through it. A test of colliding power, in a sense, as the girl doesn't try deflecting his rising punch in the slightest but rather slams her weapon into Sergio's stomach at the same time his fist collides with her chest.

She would have no hope of winning that contest were it not for a very judicious use of the staff by stabbing the opposite end behind her against the ground, giving her leverage to fight back against the impact though it means weathering out the attack - something she isn't the best built to endure

Recovering her momentum after the initial trade, though, the girl is back on the offense with a second upward swing for his chest as she rises into the air, lifting the weapon up over her shoulders in preparation for one final bash against the crown of Sergio's head with an accompanying explosion of the red energy lacing the outside of her weapon. Of course, with the jump and the metal pole swinging, there's a chance she's forgotten about the wires overhead in her eagerness to dish out some pain...

COMBATSYS: Ayame blocks Marise's Thrown Object.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Marise           0/-------/-------|=======\=------\1           Sergio
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ayame            0/-------/--=====|


Last time he tried bum rushing someone who was completely ready for him it went off without a hitch. This time it still goes off, but there's a rather large hitch to go along with it. The pole pokes him hard in the stomach- which is good enough for him as his fist manages to catch her rather well. The problem is that a moment later the pole suddenly comes up again and crushes him under the chin before swinging overhead and smashing right into the top of his head, pounding him straight down into the ground, explosion thrown into the mix for more painful fun. At least that pole ended up taking the jolt of electricity instead of his water enclosed hand!

Before it was looking like he'd have a chance at a war of attrition. Now... now it's starting to look pretty bad for him. Oh sure he's still up and at full efficiency, but he's looking rather roughed up for all that, compared to Ayame who looks almost completely fresh. "Ergh..." It takes him a while to pick himself back up, this time. "Okay, I have to say- you're starting to kick my ass. And as much as the crowd is probably liking it, I can't let it go on forever!"

He cracks his knuckles and reaches down inside his shirt, suddenly ripping an incredibly long rope out of nowhere. Ayame's not the only one with tricks up her sleeves! Swinging his arm forward in a hard motion, he flings the huge rope forward and it begins spinning. A moment later an incredibly large maelstrom of water forms around it, swirling it to greater and greater speeds as it advances across the floor towards the blonde. It'll be an extra treat for the audience if it works- they'll probably get a kick out of seeing her all tied up!

COMBATSYS: Sergio successfully hits Ayame with Charybdis.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Marise           0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Sergio
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ayame            1/----===/=======|


Ack. Major risk of getting zotted like Sergio has been as her staff swings up against the wires. But the swift downward strike against the top of her opponent's head pulled the metal weapon down before she got TOO much of a jolt. Landing after the three strike combination, Ayame's left hand comes up to press against her chest, looking rather pained by the hit she took in order to strike him there. Yeah, he really /does/ hit hard. No denying it.

But now there's a break between the two. Ayame recovering from the hit and the effort put into her attack and Sergio has something to say about the state of the fight. "Yeah? And what are you going to do about it?" the girl snaps back. She let him get that hit to guarentee her own, but that was a one time deal. No way he's hitting her again!

That's when he pulls out a rope and Ayame blinks. She remembers him being pretty nifty with it last time they fought, but this time she's prepared for simple rope tricks! "I already know that one," the girl notes, shifting her stance a little, holding the staff off to the side rather than angling it in front of her, ready to just step out of the way.

Or so she /thought/. The vortex of chi that forms within and around the spinning coil is way more than she remembered from last time! Chalk one up for fan service as by the time Ayame comes to rest, the girl is sopping wet and entangled in the rope, lying on ground, her staff pinned uselessly against her side. "...ow," comes the pained groan as she starts to struggle, realizing that in this predictament, she's pretty easy pickings.

With a little wriggle-room, she gets her left hand over to her right arm, pulling back the cloth wrappings concealing her forearm to reveal a small device. The wings expand on the mini-crossbow as Ayame strains against the ropes to line up a shot toward Sergio before squeezing the trigger hidden in her glove. A small bolt zips across the distance toward Sergio. A simple projectile - but laced with a nerve poison. He might be familiar with it as he got stung by the same stuff trying to shuffle through the girl's belongings once! Nothing that would take down a rugged fighter like him, but it might slow him down long enough for her to get herself free.

The single round of ammunition fired, Ayame's right hand slips down near her belt, pulling out a knife that she starts cutting at the rope with.

COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Sergio with Sudden Fling.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Marise           0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0           Sergio
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ayame            1/----===/=======|


Time for Sergio to be cocky! Well, at least a little bit. The way she's been knocking him around the entire fight, it's /really/ nice to see her eat her words and get all bound up and blasted with energy. He stands back from range and grins at her, "Hah! Yea, you did see it before- the small version. Funny how I make sure not to underestimate the teenage girls, but for some reason they've been underestimating me." Simply waiting around and watching her struggle, figuring she can free herself quickly enough with her knives, Sergio seems to be enjoying his minor victory.

And then she pulls out a small little crossbow. An eyebrow raises, "What are you going to do with that little thing?" Twang! Zoooot! Poik! "Ouch!" It stings! Gritting his teeth the man reaches up and begins removing the damn little thing from his arm, glowering as he shoves it in a pocket. Then that arm starts to go numb. "Oh hell, that was low."

A familiar tingling begins filling his arm, and he grumbles to himself. No rushing in and trying to use /that/ arm to hit her with. But... he actually doesn't intend to rush in! No, staying back actually worked for him, so why not keep it up? Besides, she's got all that rope to deal with still. "Hmph. I know how to deal with an annoyance like this." Time to throw out the power moves! ...well, he has been, but time to throw out the impressive power moves! Staying back, he crouches down into a low powerful stance, draws his /good/ arm back, waggles his eyebrows to Ayame, who probably knows what's up by now, and then thrusts his hand forward in a powerful motion. "HAAH!"

Rumble, rumble, rumble. At first, nothing. But then a few moments later... the ground explodes! Or, well, it partially explodes. And with water! A massive huge onrush of rapidly moving water tears up from the concrete and zooms towards Ayame, rather large chunks of several-inch-thick reinforced concrete flooring tearing along for the ride. Sergio's counting on the fact that she'll be unable to free herself from the ropes in time to get out of the way, but will his risk pay off?

COMBATSYS: Ayame dodges Sergio's Whitewater.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Marise           0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Sergio
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ayame            1/----===/=======|


Leave it to Ayame to keep sinking to new lows in combat! It seems there's nearly nothing she won't stoop to if she thinks it'll give her an edge. Unfortunately, she doesn't gave time to smirk or gloat or act cocky when she's busy trying to cut her way to freedom. Time is /really/ of the essence here, the girl's eyes widening as she observes Sergio adopting a very solid stance from a distance. Here comes something from range. And knowing him, it's gonna /hurt/.

The famous destructive crowd pleaser unleashed, Ayame manages to sever the last coil in the nick of time, lunging up to her feet to leap to the side into a desperate tumble, tucking her staff in horizontally against her stomach with both her hands to keep it from screwing up the roll. Coming out of the evasive maneuver into a crouch, she glances over her shoulder toward the foreigner, gritting her teeth. Dried off now after her unscheduled bath, the girl takes a second to catch her breath, a bit of a smirk finally crossing her lips at having avoided his attack and having plinked him with the little dart. It's no wonder Marise hasn't called her an 'angel' tonight, considering the dirty way she fights. "Haha, nice try. I guess." she states with a shrug, always glad to give grief when she has a chance. "Don't worry about your arm, it should wear off right about when I'm done beating you."

Squeezing a place on the staff's center, the long weapon collapses down to a half-foot long tube that the girl tucks into the pouch on her side. Her fingers brush across the clasp of the loose secondary belt resting lazily at an angle at her hips, undoing the clasp and sliding the coiled whip-cable from off her waist with a grin. Time to return the favor, she decides.

Rising from her crouch and shifting into a sprint immediately, she closes the distance he's gained on her in the meantime, holding the whip out at her side. When she finally gets close to lash out with the weapon, the girl swings for his non-numb arm, seeking to entangle it. At the same time, she continues forward, trying to sweep his feet out from under him and drive him to the ground face down so that she can pry his arm behind his back with the whip and drop down onto his lower back with her knee.

COMBATSYS: Sergio interrupts Medium Throw from Ayame with Old Faithful.

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Marise           0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Sergio
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  <
Ayame            1/--=====/=======|


Luckily for her, sinking to lower lows is one of the main points in a fight like this. The fact that she uses weapons and he doesn't is meaningless in such a competition. If he limits himself and she doesn't, more power to her! That'd account for the lack of actual outrage in his voice as his limb numbs up. Besides, it's not like he wouldn't expect as much coming from a little con artist like her. She's quick enough on the uptake to do little more than get the hell out of the way when he sends the huge wall of water towards her, which while disappointing isn't exactly shocking to Sergio.

At her snarky little comment he gives her a wily grin, "That so? Guess that's not too bad then, since I won't need it to take you out." If he's anything, he's confident, even in a situation like this one. Just because he got a crappy start doesn't mean he's done for. She's switching up weapons again and going for a whip, which makes him wonder. It's not like she was doing bad with the pole, she'd actually gotten some nasty strikes in with it, so why change it up now? She probably has her reasons, but whatever they are he doesn't understand them.

And as she comes forward towards him he stays firmly rooted in the ground, readying himself for her attack. She runs up to him with great speed, and then whips out at his arm with her weapon. The moment it does, that arm shoots straight up, and a geyser of water shoots straight up from the ground right in front of his feet. The whip begins to coil around the appendage, but before it can fully grip the water hits Ayame and launches her airborne, a grin cracking on Sergio's face, seeming utterly unfazed by the attack. "If you think you can beat me before your little poison wears off you'll have to do better than that!"

His arm shoots up, but Ayame corrects for it, "Gotch-" ERK! Again with the living water fountain act! Knocked clean off her feet by his defensive attack, the girl crashes back down to the ground on her back in a puddle some yards away, her hand having let go of the whip entirely the instant she felt herself being blasted off!

Grrr! Again with the smack talk too! How obnoxious!! She hates this guy!!! Rolling over onto her side, she shakes her head before pushing herself to her feet and turning to face Sergio again. An eyebrow twitches a little, her smug act taking a bit of a beating after having been dealt the last two blows. "Okay, I was going to go easy on you, but...!" Yeah, that's probably not really true.

The girl slips off the wire thin cabling that was wrapped around her shoulders, the pointed dart dangling from one end, the heavy weight hanging from the other... Draping some of the cable over her shoulders, the girl takes an end in each hand, brown eyes glaring back at Sergio as she takes a breath... "Time to finish this!!"

And then she's on the offense again, charging toward him with a sprint at first until she gets about nine feet out. Then the dangerous flurry of rope and weights begins to get lashed out toward Sergio. High and low, the girl spins, twirls, flings, kicks, and hurls the two ends of the rope at the middle aged man, aiming to bash, stab, scratch, scrape, bruise...

"HAAH!" And in the end, she flings the entire weapon at him, the rope spinning through air where it threatens to entangle him like he did to her not too long ago. It would be an unpleasant situation to end up in. Unlike his rope, Ayame's cable is wire sharp, and just getting himself free might prove to be a painful process. Not by accident, of course.

COMBATSYS: Sergio blocks Ayame's Entrapment.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Marise           0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0           Sergio
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  <
Ayame            0/-------/-----==|


Finally starting to show signs of effectively fighting Ayame, Sergio simply keeps the overconfident look on his face and adopts the brawlers stance he's pretty much abandoned for most of the fight, with the exception of one arm which hangs a little low and limp by his side. "Finish it, huh? Great! Time to finally see what you're made of." And then she comes. Like before Sergio is ready for her, but this time rather than relying on trying to hit her out of her attack he holds his ground, tightening up his muscles and twisting this way and that so the weights deflect rather than hitting solidly. The kicks are harder to deal with since he only has one arm to defend himself with, but somehow he manages. Taking every hit, but taking them very well, he staves off the attack until the very end, the ropes flinging forward and twirling about him.

A moment later he relaxes his muscles and the rope just slips off from the reduced size. "Not bad! I'd have been done for if I wasn't ready for you. Had me worried for a moment, I'll admit!" But what he won't admit is defeat, because even though he seemingly shrugged off an incredible series of attacks he's still got a long way to go.

Taking a couple steps back, and stumbling on the ropes now around his feet, he goes over his options. "Y'know. I was thinkin' that maybe I should fight fair and try and hit you or somethin', but now that I think about it, you wouldn't do the same for me." That said he continues the horribly cheap tactic of throwing things at her, pulling out another, shorter, rope from his shirt and giving it a quick toss that finds it swirling inside a vortex of water that holds it at just the perfect height to strangle her.

COMBATSYS: Ayame blocks Sergio's Whirlpool.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Marise           0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0           Sergio
[                       \\\\\\\  <
Ayame            0/-------/----===|


After flinging the rope at him, the girl staggers backward, her expression already curling into a bit of a smirk... until the dust settles and her wire weapon is lying on the ground at his feet, Sergio seemingly not terribly harmed even after what she just threw at him. There's a flicker of surprise in her expression as she gasps for breath. There's no denying that she certainly didn't expect him to weather that...

Out comes a smaller rope... okay, this is the one she remembered. Che! Her right hand slips to the pouch at her side, producing the staff again. Raising it up near the side of her head as it expands outward from the center-handle, she ends up catching the rope around the staff before it can tighten against her neck.

"Not so fast!" Ayame grunts, coughing from the chi assault before she slips the rope off all together, letting it slide down off the end of her staff to land on the ground at her feet. Still catching her breath, the girl is still for a moment, holding her staff horizontally out in front of her. Tiring fast, but she can't give up just yet!

Channeling energy from the world around her back into the weapon once more, the metal pole begins to glow an earthy green hue, the normally light weight titanium suddenly seeming to have more mass than it normally exhibits. And then she's charging him again. Time to close the distance, she's tired of his pesky ropes!! An attempt is made to jam the staff sideways up under his chin up against his neck while simultaneously leaping up and over him to try and land behind the European. "Feel free to give up the fantasy when you've had enough!"

If she succeeds, the girl ends up pulling the weapon tight against his neck while hanging onto the staff from both sides behind him, creating a crushing strangle hold... her feet don't even quite touch the ground, which means she's just kind of dangling against his back. Not exactly what she had in mind, but it might suffice!

COMBATSYS: Sergio interrupts Midsummer Fantasy from Ayame with Whitewater.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Marise           0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0           Sergio
[                                <
Ayame            0/-------/=======|


hough not entirely successful, the little bit that the rope does bind provides a pretty large asset to Sergio, which is slowing Ayame down. Even if it only takes her a moment to slip free she still has to take that time, giving him precious moments to ready for whatever she has in mind next. He's been going pretty hard and strong since things started to turn around, but the simple fact is that he's running out of steam, and fast. If he keeps managing to stave her attacks off he can survive a bit longer, but with a single mistake could come his downfall.

His moments of respite are up; she's coming again, and this time that pole of hers is glowing in a completely different color than he's seen it do so before. Green? What does green mean? Ah well, he's still got his water, and to him, that's all that really matters. Whatever it means, he crouches down low, the fingers in his numbed arm wiggling ever so slightly.

"Had enough? Maybe I have..." For a moment it looks like he has her, weapon pressing into his neck, his body bending backwards to relieve pressure, but then it all goes wrong. This time instead of just one hand shooting upwards, it's both of them. "HAAH!" And around them both, the arena explodes, water flying upward in excessive volume, debris from the floor and the weighted rope launching into the air, flowing around Sergio as if smoke in a wind tunnel and all smashing up into Ayame as she attempts to go up and over him, with fairly predictable results. The water evaporates, and gravelized concrete rains around him softly, that one arm dangling once more as the large man breathes heavily and wipes liquid from his forehead, not chi this time, but sweat.

Haha. Take that! Too breathless for words, the girl simply strains to maintain the hold, intending to bend him backward and even pull him to the ground if possible. It will make it easy to finish this fight in that position. She'll have the upper hand...

That's before the arena blows up around her. Rather than struggling against the staff, Sergio puts his arms to work channeling that power of his and he'll feel the release of pressure instantly as Ayame is flung up into the air, battered by the debris and explosion of watery chi...

She reaches the apex where gravity starts to take control again... before free falling back down toward Sergio. "Che," the girl grunts, still gripping that staff of hers. The energy she channels into it this time is the familiar red he's seen before as she tucks herself into a forward flip, intending to spin the weapon right against the top of his head before hitting the ground herself.

Freefall isn't exactly the best place for accuracy, admittedly... Spinning faster and faster, the red trailing behind the staff almost like an extended thin blade of chi. Regardless, the rough landing isn't going to do a lot for staying conscious. "...saa... lucky hit." *flump*

COMBATSYS: Ayame can no longer fight.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Marise           0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0           Sergio


COMBATSYS: Ayame successfully hits Sergio with Harvest's Reaper.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////                          ]
Marise           0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0           Sergio


This time rather than trying to intercept the attack, Sergio is just going to try to get out of the way. Ayame's hurt enough he figures he can lumber out of the way, but in the end he's just too damn tired. Despite her injuries Sergio fails to account his own into the equation, and rather than moving out of the way he does nothing but get himself hit on a different part of the head, the spinning girl planting the glowing weapon on the right side of his head, the explosion that goes a moment later crumpling him down to the ground.

He's down for a good few moments too, but then slowly and surely he peels himself from the damaged concrete and picks himself back up to his feet. Wobbly for sure, he took two hard hits to the head this fight, but standing. "Came right down too it. Don't think that was luck... but I guess everything is luck, really. Damn good fight." Not the type to take out any further violence on the fallen girl, who he really doesn't hold a grudge against anyway, he backs off. Any cheering for himself that's going to be done by him is going to be done from the side of a medic.

As Sergio first crumples down and lies still, mirroring his fallen opponent Marise's face returns to the monitor, "And there yoooou HAVE it! A DRAW! Unbelievable! Could a fight get any closer than th-.."
And then Sergio actually.. stirs, "Wait.. What's this?" Even Marise looks modestly surprised as the man somehow manages to dredge up the fortitude to drag himself to his feet, "..KyaHA! I take that back.. We have a -WINNER-! Sergio!"
Many numbers in sub-screens immediately begin shifting in the wake of this news. Bets recalculated as whoops of victory suddenly become cries of anger at the sudden turn of events, and vice versa. Perhaps sensing the growing discontent at the abrupt judgement shift, the unfazed beauty waves her hand, "Now now! The rules are specific! The last person whom is able to stand is the winner! No count-outs, tap-outs or wimp-outs here folks. No premature judgements will rob our contestants of the glory!"
The spotlight then hastily focuses on the Italian, "Our vicious vixen was riding high on her recent performances and she certainly gave it her all! Between our lovely playing field and Ayame's onslaught, the Euro stud seemed doomed. But no! In an -amazing- display of resilience, the man comes back and fights back our little lethal lady to a complete standstill! Friends.. I don't know how he could ever top -THAT- performance!"

The Devil's grin widens knowingly, "But try he WILL. I guarantee you that my lovelies. Next time.. Next time.."

Log created on 23:23:58 12/03/2007 by Marise, and last modified on 22:02:59 12/04/2007.